Mathis has become the focus of a controversy that began with a column in the Detroit News by writer Laura Berman, who questioned whether Mathis is fit to lead the school board of the 90,000-student system because of his problems with written expression. The system is one of the most severely troubled in the country; fewer than 25 percent of high school freshmen go on to graduate.

"Do DPS control the Foundation or outside group? If an outside group control the foundation, then what is DPS Board row with selection of is director? Our we mixing DPS and None DPS row’s, and who is the watch dog?" -The president of the Detroit school board, Otis Mathis

Former Detroit School Board President Otis Mathis has appeared in court on charges that he fondled himself during a meeting with the district superintendent. The 55-year-old Mathis stood mute Tuesday in 36th District Court to misconduct in office and obscene conduct charges. He was released on a $50,000 personal bond and ordered to have no contact with Superintendent Teresa Gueyser, who filed the complaint against him. Mathis also was ordered to have no contact with children or school board members and to surrender his passport.

DETROIT (AP) -- School board members refused Friday to reinstate the group's former president, who resigned a day earlier following allegations he fondled himself repeatedly in front of the district's superintendent. Otis Mathis was given a letter stating his request for reinstatement had been denied. Mathis, 56, resigned Thursday, the same day Teresa Gueyser filed a complaint with the school district's Public Safety department... She said she tried to ignore him and on several occasions "asked him not to touch himself." "During the discussion, President Mathis began to stroke his genital area with his right hand," Gueyser wrote, adding that Mathis made similar gestures during past meetings.

The president of the Detroit school board, Otis Mathis, is waging a legal battle to steer the academic future of 90,000 children, in the nation's lowest-achieving big city district. He also acknowledges he has difficulty composing a coherent English sentence. Here's a sample from an e-mail he sent to friends and supporters on Sunday night, uncorrected for errors of spelling, grammar, punctuation and usage. It begins: If you saw Sunday's Free Press that shown Robert Bobb the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools, move Mark Twain to Boynton which have three times the number seats then students and was one of the reason's he gave for closing school to many empty seats.

If you saw Sunday's Free Press that shown Robert Bobb the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools, move Mark Twain to Boynton which have three times the number seats then students and was one of the reason's he gave for closing school to many empty seats.

Otis Mathis, who oversees the academic future of 90,000 public school students, told the Detroit News that he's a "horrible writer" after reports surfaced that he sent a Feb. 29 e-mail to the financial manager of Detroit Public Schools that was rife with spelling, punctuation and usage errors.